The NFL Has a Lot in Common With Reagan on Weed

An article came today by Rolling Stone about the outdated and arbitrary rules that the National Football League continues to implement in regard to marijuana. According to this source the league is falling behind the times as it does not even allow for cannabidiol (CBD), used to treat chronic pain, and doesn’t even have significant levels of THC.

This is a pretty hypocritical notion by the NFL as they seem to have absolutely zero issue with pumping their players full of pharmaceutical pain killers that are often abused and dangerous. Considering how many of their current and former players are suffering symptoms related to CTE, you would think that they would be a bit more accepting of any treatments that would give players relief. Especially when you consider these players are big part of what makes the league successful in the first place.

There are a few reasons why the NFL would take this stand against marijuana, according to the article. First, with marijuana still classified as a Schedule 1 drug by the federal government, the NFL does not want to get in the crosshairs of any laws that could impact their operations. While not in the article, but my opinion is that the NFL also does not want these alternative treatments available to players as it is just one more way in which they have to accept and admit that football has long-term consequences for many of its players.

Hopefully, in the future the NFL and NFLPA will come to the bargaining table and get with the times by allowing their players to use cannabis at least for medical reasons. There is little doubt that marijuana has positive health benefits and these NFL players, current and former, are some of the people who would likely benefit the most from having access to it.